I walked up to Diomi and lowered my head and asked angrily, "Captain, what's wrong?" ”

Diomi looked blank and looked at me with a blank gaze, as if he didn't understand what I was saying. I patiently repeated the words before he pointed to the bottom of the hill and muttered, "It's over, it's all over." ”

"What's over? It's inexplicable! "I bent down to pick up the telescope he had left on the ground, examined it, and found that the lens was not broken, just stained with some dust. I patted the dirt clean and held up my binoculars to look down the hillside.

What caught my eye was a battlefield miles away, a battlefield to be exact, a battlefield that had been. In this forest clearing, which is three or four kilometers long and no more than one or two kilometers wide, there are no gunfire or moving figures, and corpses in our uniforms are covered in the clearing near the forest to the north, and there are many burned trucks and tanks in the center of the battlefield.

I looked closely at the battlefield and saw that the edge of the forest was covered with barbed wire, and the German trenches were in the forest, with brick and concrete firing points and numerous artillery positions. From east to west, the front of more than 1,000 meters is covered with the corpses of Soviet soldiers who died in various postures, and the corpses that fell in front of the barbed wire fence are stacked layer by layer, you can imagine how fierce the battle was at that time.

The camera zooms back to the trucks that have been burned to the ground with only black frames, and entire rows of fighters sitting on the boards of the trucks are burned to ashes. The drivers were still sitting at the wheel, blackened to charcoal. Seeing all this, I immediately understood the foul smell in the air, which turned out to be the terrible smell of the corpses of the soldiers being charred.

My hand holding the binoculars trembled slightly, and my mind seemed to be playing a movie, restoring this tragic offensive battle.

This unknown commander of the breakout force did not let the tanks open the way in front, but let thousands of fighters, armed with rifles with bayonets, sing the national anthem to attack the German positions. Behind them, there were almost a hundred trucks full of fighters. As a result, they became live targets for German tanks, artillery and machine guns. When the infantry was exhausted, the tank units launched a slow attack, but without the infantry cover tanks, their combat effectiveness was greatly reduced, and when they circled among the burning trucks, they were hit by three blows from German tanks, anti-tank guns and anti-tank infantry, and finally completely destroyed.

I feel unworthy for the soldiers who were burned alive in the truck, and when the truck caught fire, they had a chance to jump out of the car and escape. But strict military discipline did not allow them to do so, and without the permission of their superiors, they would jump out of the car and escape, and they would be shot on the spot as deserters, and they could only sit and wait for death.

I slowly lowered my binoculars, took a few breaths, and tried to calm the anger in my heart. The suicidal charge he launched had achieved its purpose of suicide, but the attack had no effect at all, and in vain gave the Germans the opportunity to make a meritorious deed. After this battle, I don't know how many German officers and soldiers will be rewarded.

"Comrade Major, Comrade Major." Ugad's voice came from the bottom of the slope, and I followed the sound to see him and an officer walking up the slope.

"What's the matter?" Everything I saw just now made me feel very bad, so my tone of voice was extraordinarily harsh.

Ugad walked quickly in front of me, stood up and saluted and reported: "Comrade Major, the division headquarters has sent a liaison officer, let us hurry to the division headquarters. ”

The officer, who was following Lieutenant Ugad, also saluted me and reported: "Comrade Major, Colonel Antchufeev has an order for all divisional units to quickly move closer to the division headquarters and have important combat missions. He was afraid that you would get lost, so he asked me to be your guide. ”

"I immediately ordered the team to set off. Let's go, Captain Diomi and Lieutenant Ugard. I said the next sentence to the two company commanders, but they didn't answer me right away.

I looked back and saw that Ugard was holding up Diomi who had just stood up, staring at the battlefield in the distance. I coughed and raised my voice, "Captain Diomi, Lieutenant Ugad, let's go." ”

Only then did the two of them come to their senses, and they hurriedly agreed loudly: "Yes!" ”

The troops, led by the liaison officer, left the road, entered the forest and advanced in a southeasterly direction.

Half an hour later, we came to the vicinity of the division headquarters. I put the troops on standby, and then followed the liaison officer to report to the division commander.

The division headquarters was in a log hut, and there were already seven or eight commanders standing against the wall, and the division commander, Colonel Antchufeev, was walking back and forth with his hands behind his back. I hurriedly went up and immediately reported: "Comrade division commander, Major Oshanina, commander of the 3rd Battalion of the 1127th Regiment, reports to you that our battalion has been ordered to come and listen to your orders. ”

"Why is there only one battalion, your commander?" The colonel stopped and asked sternly.

"Report to the division commander, our battalion is the vanguard battalion, and the regiment commander, political commissar and follow-up troops should arrive soon."

"Hell, what do you mean by should? I don't want your hypothetical answers, I just want to know exactly when they arrived. "The division commander seems to have always had a prejudice against me, so he is not polite at all.

"I'm not sure about this, Comrade Divisional Commander. You know, I am only a battalion commander, and there is only one battalion of troops that I can command. When will the main forces of the regiment arrive, this is the answer that only the regiment commander and commissar can give you. ”

"I see, it seems that I blamed you." The Colonel's tone softened a little, and he walked over to the table and sat down, gesturing to the crowd, and said, "Get in the ranks, Major." ”

Hearing his command, I hurriedly walked over and stood close to a commander, waiting for the colonel to give orders.

The colonel sat down on a stool, took a deep breath, then stood up, walked up to us, and said in a loud voice: "Comrades, I have summoned you all here because tomorrow our division will launch an attack on the encirclement of the Germans, and will open a passage for the army group to break through. ……”

"Comrade Division Commander, can I ask a question?" A man's voice came from the left, and I turned my head to look and saw that it was a lieutenant colonel who spoke, probably a regimental commander, so he could speak so casually.

"Say, Lieutenant Colonel Evgeny, if you have any questions, just ask." The colonel seemed to be familiar with the man, and he still had a smile on his face when he spoke.

Yevgeny cautiously asked: "Did the breakthrough commanded by General Privalov succeed yesterday?" ”

Colonel Anchufeev's face immediately turned indifferent, and after a long time, he whispered: "Failed." General Plivalov's troops have been completely annihilated. ”

"Huh?!" Evgeny was surprised and asked: "Did they have thousands of men, even tanks and artillery, and they all died like this?" ”

The colonel nodded vigorously and said, "Yes, because the strength of the fascist bandits is too strong, our breakthrough troops have fought stubbornly, and all of them died heroically. At the same time, more than a dozen guerrilla groups came to meet them. ”

"Then what is the task of our division? Comrade division commander. ”

"The task given to us by the group army headquarters is to concentrate the forces of the whole division and launch an attack on the German army in the southeast direction at five o'clock in the morning of the 18th, striving to open a passage along the narrow-gauge railway to cover the main force of the group army to break out of the encirclement."

"Is there artillery cover?" The lieutenant colonel asked again.

Hearing this question, the division commander shrugged his shoulders and replied with a wry smile: "My comrade lieutenant colonel, no, nothing, no air force cover, no tank cover, not even basic artillery fire cover before the attack. Only with the bayonets in the hands of the warriors can fight their way out of the enemy. ”